When Mukesh Ambani returned from Stanford as an “idealistic young man” in the late 1970s, he wondered how a Bombay Stock Exchange dominated by “dhotiwalas” could endure. His father, Dhirubhai Ambani, told him to “have faith”—they would become “suitwalas,” and India would one day be proud of its capital market.
Nearly five decades later, Ambani returned to the BSE on Thursday to recall that prophecy and the larger lessons his father left him: take responsibility rather than blame others, keep learning, build leaders and draw strength from family.
“Setbacks are not verdicts; they are feedback,” Ambani said, distilling Dhirubhai’s philosophy into three questions: “Why did I miss? What will I change? And how quickly can I act?”
“Blame may protect that ego for a day; responsibility builds the future.”
Speaking at the launch of Aparajita, the Hindi edition of former SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya’s memoir Indomitable, the Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director connected his father’s philosophy with four lessons he drew from Bhattacharya’s life.
Family, failure and learning
The first was family. Whatever he had achieved, Ambani said, rested on the values he received from his parents, his partnership with his wife, Nita Ambani, and the strength of his family.
“Family is our first and most enduring capital—emotional, moral and spiritual,” he said, adding: “Never confuse professional success with personal self-sufficiency.”
The second was to stop externalising blame. Bhattacharya recalled being taught at school to examine her own role in an unsatisfactory outcome rather than blame others—a lesson Ambani connected with Dhirubhai’s approach to setbacks.
It was here that he recalled his father’s faith in Indian investors. “Believe me, 50 years from then, we are one of the largest capital markets,” Ambani said. “That was his vision at that point in time and that really has happened.”
The third lesson was to remain a lifelong student. Bhattacharya’s four-decade banking career required “learning, unlearning, and re-learning” while helping a more than 200-year-old SBI reinvent itself for a younger India—a process compared with “repairing a running car.”
“Always remain a student,” Ambani said. “Learn from younger people, from technology, and especially from what makes you uncomfortable.”
Create leaders, not followers
His fourth lesson was about people. No bold vision can be realised by one individual, Ambani said; leaders must put the right people in the right roles, empower them and stand behind courageous decisions. Ambani ended with a call for corporate India to strengthen support for working women and mothers, saying it still had “a very long way to go” in ensuring women get what they deserve. He asked Bhattacharya and other women leaders to guide such an initiative and committed Reliance Foundation to participate.
Women, he said, bring an “Empathy Quotient” to decision-making—one reason India needs more women in leadership.